The following guest post on chores for preschoolers is courtesy of Maria Wells, www.housekeeping.org

Between the ages of three and five children are eager to help out with household chores. Being tasked with chores actually helps children to feel that they are a necessary part of the family, boosts self-esteem, and leaves them feeling more competent and capable than they would if they were not expected to perform any household duties. Establishing a chores routine at a young age also helps parents avoid the mutiny that is sure to accompany a chores regimen instituted when kids are older and less enthusiastic about helping.

In the interest of helping your children establish and maintain good habits in relation to work and helping others, here are ten chores that even preschoolers can do:

1. Making Their Own Bed – Between the ages of three and five, kids aren’t likely to be the best bed-makers in the world, but they can certainly get the job done. Remember, the object of asking them to make their own bed is to establish the habit and ensure that it becomes part of their daily chores routine. When kids get older and their coordination improves, parents can offer instructions for how to do the job perfectly.
2. Cleaning Up Their Rooms – Your child’s bedroom is her own space, so she should be as responsible as possible for ensuring that it’s maintained. During the preschool years she should be able to put her own toys away, place books back on a low bookshelf, and ensure that any cups or dishes are returned to the kitchen.
3. Helping to Fold Laundry – Folding socks and t-shirts are simple enough tasks for a preschooler, though they aren’t likely to fold shirts like a retail pro would. As long as items aren’t wadded up and wrinkled, preschoolers should be encouraged to help their parents with the folding of simple laundry items. Towels are an ideal choice for practice, as they have no irregular edges.
4. Putting Away Their Own Laundry – Clothing items that require hanging should probably still be handled by the taller members of the family, but a preschooler is more than capable of putting her own folded clothing in the appropriate drawer.
5. Helping to Set the Table – Unbreakable dishes can be entrusted to a preschooler in order for them to set the table, though glasses and china for the adults might be safer in older, steadier hands. Helping to set the table for a family meal helps kids learn the practical skill of setting a table, but also allows them to feel like an integral part of the family meal ritual.
6. Putting Dishes in the Dishwasher – Preschool-aged kids are able to carry their own dishes from the table, clear them, and put them in the dishwasher. Because dishwasher doors can be a bit heavy and unwieldy for little hands, adults should help by opening the door for them.
7. Sweeping or Using a Handheld Vacuum Cleaner – Small, kid-sized brooms and dustpans can be found in most department stores and toy stores; with these tools, your preschooler will be able to help you sweep the floor much more easily than she could with a heavy, too-long adult model. Additionally, kids at this age can also usually manage a small, hand-held vacuum cleaner to clean up crumbs.
8. Checking the Mail – Making a daily trip to the mailbox part of your preschooler’s routine is likely to be his favorite task of the day. However, it’s imperative that parents accompany young children, especially if there’s any danger at all of a child stepping into the street while attempting to access the mailbox. Checking the mail should be a chore that you perform together to ensure your little one’s safety.
9. Watering Plants – A small watering can that your child is capable of managing creates the opportunity for her to help out with the watering of plants. At the older end of the preschool spectrum, it might be a good idea to introduce a small potted plant that is hers specifically. Remembering to water the plant regularly is essential to its survival, which helps kids understand the responsibility and care of living things that are dependent upon others for their survival.
10. Caring for Family Pets – By the time your child is a preschooler, she should be able to feed and water the family dog or cat; feeding an exotic pet, like a snake, is almost certainly more than she can handle. Provided that you have a more traditional pet, however, your preschooler is more than capable of ensuring that it has food and water.

Kids at this age will still require supervision and the occasional assistance from an adult when doing chores, though it’s important for adults to wait until a child has asked before lending a hand.

Rather than swooping in and taking over, which leaves kids feeling as if they have failed and are incompetent, you should only help enough to make it possible for your child to continue and complete the task successfully.

Getting a case of Poison Ivy is a misery for your child, and a sure way of losing out on several days of warm weather fun.

It is well worth the time to educate your child about poison ivy, in the hopes that he or she will be able to recognize and avoid it when out in a wooded area or on a camping trip.

The following guest post comes from Carrie Dotson, Summer Nanny Jobs at www.summernannyjobs.com/blog

10 ways to make your children aware of Poison Ivy.

1. Take them to a nature museum: A nature museum may have a pressed specimen of Poison Ivy if they don’t have any on property. Experts at the museum can speak about Poison Ivy, describing what it looks like.
2. Have them color a picture of it: Since the shape of Poison Ivy leaves are the most important thing for identifying it in the wild, coloring a picture should help your child learn what it looks like.
3. Show them a video online: There are visuals of Poison Ivy along with a lot of information about the plant. Check out this video on how to recognize and avoid Poison Ivy: http://www.howcast.com/videos/22122-How-To-Recognize-and-Avoid-Poison-Ivy.
4. Read a book about it: Visit a library and check out a book about Poison Ivy. Ask your local librarian for an age-appropriate recommendation.
5. Show them a live plant: Go on a hike in your area and find some Poison Ivy.  Show your child where Poison Ivy tends to grow and how it grows. Showing your child how Poison Ivy can hide in among many other weeds and that it can be hard to see is an important part of teaching him to avoid it.
6. Make a craft project: Have your child cut out Poison Ivy shaped leaves from green felt. Glue all of the pieces down onto another piece of felt.
7. Let them try to draw the shape in shaving cream: Put some shaving cream down on the table and smooth it out. Illustrate the shape of the Poison Ivy leaves and then have your child copy you.
8. Host a game show: Playing a game where your child answers questions about what you’ve taught him can be a fun way to review.
9. Have a contest: See who can remember the most information about Poison Ivy and then give the most knowledgeable child a prize.

10. Teach someone else: Sometimes teaching someone else can help to solidify a concept in your mind.  If your child has a younger sibling or friend, let him teach the sibling what he has learned about Poison Ivy.

http://www.summernannyjobs.com/blog/

 It’s that time again, time to move cooking outdoors.

Before you do, please compare your outdoor cooking practices with what Safe Kids USA recommends for keeping outdoor cooking accident and injury-free.

Cooking on a Top Grill

• Grills should only be used outdoors and at least 10 feet away from a house or any building.

• Do not use the grill in a garage, breezeway, carport, porch, or under a surface that can catch fire.

• The grill should be placed well away from deck railings and out from under eaves and overhanging branches.

• Keep children and pets away from the grill area by declaring a 3-foot “kid-free” safety zone around the grill.

• Grills should be kept clean by removing grease or fat buildup from the grill itself and in the trays below the grill.

• Never leave a grill unattended.

• Keep lighted cigarettes, matches, or open flames away from the grill.

Cooking on Charcoal Grills

• If you use a starter fluid, use only charcoal starter fluid. Never add charcoal fluid or any other flammable liquids to the lit fire.

• Never burn charcoal inside of homes, vehicles, tents, or campers. Charcoal should never be used indoors, even if ventilation is provided.

• When you are finished grilling, let the coals completely cool before disposing in a metal container.

• Since charcoal produces CO fumes until the charcoal is completely extinguished, do not store the grill indoors with freshly used coals.

• Store charcoal fluid out of the reach of children and away from heat sources.

Cooking on Gas Grills

• Check grill hoses for cracking, brittleness, holes, and leaks.

• If you detect a leak, immediately turn off the gas and don’t attempt to light the grill until the leak is fixed.

• Always follow the manufacturer’s instructions when operating a gas grill.

• Never start a fire with gasoline or other flammable products.

Cooking outside is a fun, warm -weather activity as long as you take safety precautions.

Happy Summer!

Source: Safe Kids USA

In an effort to quit,many people who smoke, are turning to e-cigarettes to help ease the process of giving up cigarettes entirely. Adolescents are experimenting with e-cigarettes. Yet little is known about the long term effects of using e-cigarettes.

What follows is a press release that speaks to the concerns of The  American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) with regard to e-cigarettes.

 Press release... The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), in a joint letter responding to a proposal by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to extend its regulatory authority over tobacco products, today urged the agency to regulate electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), cigars, and all other tobacco products and to strengthen the proposed regulations for newly deemed products.

“There is no safe form of tobacco use,” said Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), chief executive officer of the AACR. “Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable deaths in the United States, and among its dire health consequences are 18 different types of cancer. It is imperative that the FDA takes action to regulate all tobacco products. The future health of the American people, in particular our nation’s children, depends on it.”

The AACR and ASCO applauded the FDA’s proposal to regulate e-cigarettes. “We believe it is vitally important for the FDA to begin regulating these products,especially because we don’t know much about the health effects of e-cigarette use. We are also quite concerned that e-cigarettes may increase the likelihood that nonsmokers or former smokers will use combustible tobacco products or that they will discourage smokers from quitting,” said Peter P. Yu, MD, FASCO, president of ASCO.

“There are insufficient data on the long-term health consequences of e-cigarettes, their value as tobacco cessation aids, or their effects on the use of conventional cigarettes. Any benefits of e-cigarettes are most likely to be realized in a regulated environment in which appropriate safeguards can be implemented,” said Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, chair of the AACR Tobacco and Cancer Subcommittee and chief of medical oncology at Yale Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The AACR and ASCO support many of the FDA’s proposals for regulating e-cigarettes and other products, but urge the agency to do more. Specifically, preventing children from using tobacco products is crucial and can be achieved by efforts such as banning youth-oriented advertising and marketing, self -service product displays, and tobacco company sponsorship of youth-oriented events, in addition to restricting sales to minors and implementing age-verification procedures for internet sales.

Expressing grave concern about the proliferation of flavored e-cigarettes, the AACR and ASCO encouraged the agency to ban e-cigarette flavors or flavor names that are brand names of candy, cookies, soda, and other such products, and to prohibit e-cigarettes containing candy and other youth-friendly flavors, unless there is evidence demonstrating that they do not encourage young people to use these products.

The AACR and ASCO strongly discouraged the FDA from exempting “premium” cigars from regulation, an option the agency is considering. “All cigars pose serious health risks,” said Graham Warren, MD, PhD, chair of ASCO’s Tobacco Cessation and Control Subcommittee. “As the FDA itself noted in the proposed rule, even cigar smokers who do not inhale have a seven to 10 times higher overall risk of mouth and throat cancer compared with individuals who have never smoked.Exempting these dangerous products from FDA regulation is clearly not in the best interest of public health.”

Noting that both large and small cigars are of increasing interest to youth and adult users, the AACR and ASCO underscored that the continued availability of premium cigars in an unregulated market, compounded with the ability of the tobacco industry to strategically market its products to youths and young adults, could reverse the progress made in reducing youth tobacco use.

Finally, the AACR and ASCO urged the FDA to drop the “consumer surplus” discount used to assess the net impact of the proposed deeming rule. This discount allows the FDA to only consider 30 percent of the benefits achieved via tobacco cessation due to the costs associated with this proposed regulation, including the “lost pleasure” of smoking. The AACR and ASCO stressed that addiction is an unwelcome burden for many tobacco users and that many consumers are not making rational and fully informed choices when initiating and continuing their use of tobacco products.

Amusement Park and Carnival Safety

An article by Globe Life on summer safety reminds us that amusement parks and carnivals can be great fun or they can result in a trip to the emergency room. What makes the difference? For one, parents may incorrectly assume that a ride is appropriate for their child. Secondly, children may not pay attention to or observe the safety regulations for a specific ride.

The National Safe Kids Campaign advises parents to remember that height guidelines are not always reliable.

Parents need to be sure of their child’s ability to obey ride instructions for their own safety. Alan Korn, Director of Public Policy, and General Counsel for Safe Kids USA advises parents to reinforce the authority of the ride operator. “If the ride operator tells children to keep their hands and feet inside the car or to hold the handrail, explain to your children that there is a good reason for the rule.”

Officials estimate that thousands of children, each year between the ages 14 and under are injured because they used poor judgment or behaved improperly on the rides.

Playground Safety

Safe Kids USA encourages parents and caregivers to make sure playground equipment is appropriate for a child’s age. Each year, more than 200,000 preschool and elementary school age children are injured from falling while using playground equipment.

When their imaginations run wild, children sometimes believe they have superpowers that enable them to do remarkable physical feats on the playground equipment at the cost of their own personal safety. This puts children at risk of becoming seriously injured.

Most playground injuries are related to the climbing equipment, such as monkey bars.

In fact, the amount of injuries that result from children playing on monkey bars is significant enough that many experts want them removed from playgrounds. Since falls cannot always be prevented, parents can make sure that the playground surface is loosely filled with wood chips, mulch, sand, gravel, shredded rubber, or rubber like surfacing materials.

During the summer months, playground equipment, such as slides and monkey bars, can get hotter than 140 degrees, causing burns on children’s hands, legs and other uncovered body parts. It may be wiser to avoid the playground entirely during heat waves.

Source: Globe Life, Safe Kids USA